i'd be more concerned about spain than i am about greece. look for a pullback. i still think we go higher by the end of the year. >> see you next week for a longer countdown. that's the first hour. we're closing the bell right now, heading to the second hour of "the closing bell." welcome back to "the closing bell," everybody. i'm mandy drury sitting in for maria bartiromo. hello, bill. a black friday rally for investors. we're finishing the up the day as stocks are digesting, the dow closing at the highs of the day. you have the numbers, if i can see them -- the dow up by 160 points. up by 1.25%. nasdaq putting on a really good gain as well, along with the s&p 500. you know what the last time the markets closed in positive territory on a black friday was back in 2008. >> at the height of the financial debacle, or crisis, at

that time. isn't that ironic? but we are having a very good day today and many would point out on very light volume, which is understandable. i always point that out. you can still make money whether volume is up or down. >> if i own apple and it moves up, i don't care if it is low or light volume. i have clocked in a gain. the market is is not sluggish on this abbreviated trading session after the thanksgiving holiday. a triple digit gain. light volume but still a 100-point gain is a 100-point gain. what's in store for investser between now around the end of the year. the market's historical performance between thanksgiving and new year's -- the dow is up an average 1.4%. the s&p 500 up 1.5%. and the nasdaq, the outperformer there, up by 2%, on average. >> joining us with their thoughts, quinn, we just kept

getting stronger as we went into the close today but you're still skeptical. you'd be selling into this rally. wouldn't you? >> absolutely. i think this is an opportunity to take it off the table. i said last week with maria that you don't panic sell. just as we didn't do and then we've got the rally. now is an opportunity to take the step back. we don't know what's going to happen between now and the end of the year. as i said earlier an hour ago, you are betting on congress. if you're optimistic they're going to find a solution and we'll be off to the races, fine. i'm not. i'm a seller into this rally. you'll get better prices into the new year. >> i would also like to mention as the markets have settled up, we did actually close above 13,000 again, folks. that is a gain of 172 points. michael, let me ask you, are you a seller into this rally as well? >> no, i am not. i actually feel the market will tread water for the rest of the year. really, we only have four, or five weeks left. i think we'll tread water. but as i look into next year, i see things that are happening

not only in the u.s. but on a global basis. it would lead me to believe that the market could be up 10% or more next year. i would -- >> what are you seeing when you say you are looking around the world that makes you believe we'll go higher? >> i see several things. i see emerging markets have slurmd in the second half of the year. i think those are improving, specifically in china. i see the eurozone committed to economic stimulus through their monetary system in the ecb. i think that's very positive for that market. and in the u.s. here, i see employment getting better. i see clarity on the fiscal cliff next year and i see the housing market getting better around better and i think that's a positive. >> rick santelli, it wasn't just stocks rallying today. here in the u.s., europe had its best week of the year this week. the euro is at a three-week high. gold was very strong today. what's the market telling us right now? >> i think the market's telling us that there's a lot of bargain hunting and a lot of optimism towards europe. that made sense. i think that the issues of europe are far from cured. i don't think they can be cured. but i do think there's going to

be large time gaps where investors hit the gas because the bureaucrats aren't necessarily hitting the brake. whether it's cyprus seems to be an issue. but it's strong. greece really isn't a huge issue but it really does represent kind of how the thinking goes for larger issues that europe has defaced. i found it fascinating, the dollar index closed down over a penny, even though had a strong gain on the week on the yen. it just goes to show you how that euro is so powerful this week and how in the last couple of days it's just on fire. >> the forex market often gives a good barometer of investment sentiment. mary thompson, with regard to investor sentiment, you talk to a lot of traders on the floor. how are they feeling? it's been a good week. right? what do they feel is priced in at this stage? >> at this point right now there is some expectation -- some expectations, i should say, not complete assumption that there will be an agreement on the

fiscal cliff. that's one of the things that they talk about. there are too many question marks out there. keep in mind when you look at this rally, consolidated volume here is going to be 1.4 billion to 1.5 billion. that's the lowest volume on a black friday going back to 2007. a very impressive rally at the end of the day with tech and materials and energy or industrials and energy leading the way. but again i'm not sure it has the conviction. that being said, you go back to the risk. what happens with greece, what happens with spain and what happens here in the u.s. with the fiscal cliff. there are still a lot of concerns out there despite positive news like the improvement in german business confidence and the signs we see strengthen china as well. >> mr. skeptic, what would make you bullish in this market right now? >> bill, it's fascinating. today we talk about employment trying to turn around and we see people walking out of their jobs at walmart on the biggest day of the year. i want to see a change in total attitude in this country, not just some housing numbers, not

just a blip up in employment. we've got a structural problem with our mentality. that's what it would take me to get majorly bullish on the market. >> what specifically are you talking about here? i get the employment thing but what would make this -- what structural change you talking about? i don't get what you're saying here. >> well, again, it is an attitude change. we're having people who are walking out of their jobs on the biggest day of their employer's year. and their attitude is we're not going to work until we get recognized. we get more. you don't see that as a problem in our country? >> what i'm hearing anecdotally is that 50 people walked out, then they bussed in the rest of them. don't know how much conviction there actually is for the people walking off the job today. >> how about last week? we see one union take down the twinkie industry. my point is we need to see a definite shift. we don't just need to see a few blips on the radar. until we get that i don't think

we have any seismic movement in the market from here. >> very good. thank you all. see you later. have a good weekend if we don't see you later. thanks. so a black friday rally closing out what has been a very good week for the bulls overall. kayla tausche rounds up today's winners and losers. >> all major markets are up, not just today but throughout the week. each of the major indices up better than 3% on what has been a relatively short week on relatively low volume. but congress has also been out this week so those fiscal cliff worries were largely put on hold. that's probably why we're seeing those strong gains here. let's take a look at the leaders and laggards. you're seeing dell, advanced micro, hewlett-packard is up 4% on what's been a dismal week for that stock. baxter international is up on reports that it will be buying a swedish medical equipment maker for $4 billion. those are the winners. but look at the losers for

today. you're seeing a grab bag of companies, some defensive names like exelon, wisconsin energy and southern company in the energy sector. as well as cablevision and genworth which is an insurance name. so roughly pretty big grab bag for laggards today. research in motion getting a big pop today on heavy volume for that stock, up 14% in a sustained rally. that's a big move for r.i.m. we're finally getting a date for the blackberry rollout, january 30th. analysts like that move as well as investors. >> we'll see if that works out. >> blackberry 10 is make or break for this stock. >> our internal market guru here at cnbc tells me that with today's rally, the markets are now back -- they've erased all of the losses we saw in the u.s. markets after the election on november 6th. we're back to -- >> we have a crack data team, don't we? we ask, they perform. thank you very much. from california to florida, walmart workers have been staging protests at various locations across the country.

but, is that keeping shoppers away? we'll go live to a walmart store in maryland for the latest action on that. plus, we'll tell you six ways to find the best deals out there. all it takes is your fingers and a mobile device. up next -- fiscal cliff getting closer and closer every single day. one member of our panel says there is no way the lawmakers will hash out a deal by the end of the year. what does that mean for stocks? stick around to find out. [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from td ameritrade.

the market the market rallying all week as if a fiscal cliff deal is as good as done. but are we setting ourselves up for a fall here? >> zero chance of a deal? you're scaring the kids. cnbc contributor zach caramel is more optimistic. while mike santoli says a deal is already priced into the market. mr. party pooper, why do you think we get no deal at all? >> the same composition of congress existed before the election is what we have after the election. nothing happened before then. i'm just repeating what

lawmakers said. chris van howen, representative out of maryland, said if nothing is done before they go on summer recess, you have to suspect nothing can get done by the end of the year. everybody is concentrating on this december 31st deadline. actually december 14th is the final day for congress. they can work through the holidays to try to get this deal done. we're looking at $600 billion according to the cbo and if you really want to look at all of 2013, you are looking at $800 billion to $900 billion. it is hard to imagine they could come to terms with everything that needs to be taken care of in just a few weeks from now. >> what happens to the markets if we miss that deadline, todd? >> they're going lower. look at federal spending. >> how much lower? >> at least 10%. this country's destined for a recession as it is. now if you take a look at the fiscal cliff mess, plus you look at spending cuts on the government's side, that's going to have a tremendous impact on gdp. you have to look for the lift somewhere. it is not going to come -- >> zach, why are you more hopeful? >> first of all, i wish i

possessed todd's certainty about the future with the laser like clarity of things going either incredibly well or incredibly badly. and i don't. one, i think you have to forecast an entire year of stasis in washington if you get the fiscal cliff the budget office is forecasting at its worse. no matter how dysfunctional congress is, i don't think you go an entire year with absolutely no activity because of the political and economic pressure will get so intense easily by the end of january to force somebody's hand. i'm not saying that i know anything will happen by december 14th or january 1st. i do think markets have priced a lot of that in. but they could go higher or lower but think that will be based on fundamentals ultimately, not on the timing of a political deal. >> do you feel the markets are spending way too much focusing on getting a deal done, instead of working on, okay, deal done, where do we go from there? there are a lot of fundamental

headwinds from this market. i imagine once we get a deal, there will be tax hikes and sped spending cuts which could be headwinds in itself. >> the market on a short term basis has been a little oversensitive to every tactical change in the likelihood of some kind of deal before the end of the year. it does not mean to me once we get an agreement or don't get an agreement that the market is automatically therefore more vulnerable. i actually think that essentially the 5% move we've had to the up side in the last week when congress started to express a mutual intention of getting something done, that probably gets most people to the idea of, fine, we hash out some compromise that both can maybe declare victory. if not, then soon thereafter. i do think though that you see decent domestic economic numbers underpinning a lot of what's going on below the surface in the market and the headwinds to me being the open question of whether china with reaction sell rate. to me those two things should be driving the market as opposed to kind of the war gaming of the fiscal cliff talks in d.c. >> todd, is this all about the

fiscal cliff for you? let's assume the impossible happens and they do come one a deal in a timely fashion. what happens then in your view? >> then i turn my view to the jobs picture, bill, because first of all, when you look at the tax implications, let's say a deal is cut. say that we know "x" amount of dollars are going to be cut and "x" amount of taxes are going higher. however, corporations still need to hire. we talk about the trillions of dollars in cash or not balance sheet for s&p 500 companies. nobody's hiring right now so where is the jobs picture? wall street has enough to worry about with the fiscal cliff but if a deal is done, then we turn our attention obvious tloi joly and then fundamental analysis. >> zach, do you worry that you're in denial? >> i worry about everything, bill. my own personal denial is probably too deep for me to be concerned about it. in terms of the job picture, i would say that you have a stable but not improving but not deteriorating job pictures. it is a foundation on which we're going to have to get used

to high structural unemployment. corporations will hire if there is domestic demand on the one hand, and if technology efficiencies are not sufficient to allow them to generate profits. i'm much more focused on the technology efficiencies and global shifts as an impediment to moving the job needle. but that's a very different thing as to whether or not the overall economic system is going to thrive under that circumstance. i think in fact we'll do decently, not spectacularly. >> a lot of questions to come here. thank you all for joining us here today. see you guys later. black friday drama at the nation's biggest retailer. we'll go live to a walmart in maryland on the back half of this show to check out whether today's worker protests are actually interfering with black friday shopping. >> that's the whole question, has it interfered with the shopping? that would be what they're trying to do today. up next, have you hit the malls yet? we'll talk to three analysts who have done just that. we'll find out if they think the grinch will make off with holiday cheer this year. later on, bargain hunting

made easy. how half-a-dozen mobile device apps can help you find the very best deals in stores and online. it is news everyone can use. that's what we're all about here on cnbc. so do stick around. you're watching cnbc's "closing bell." ♪

as expected, hordes of shoppers have been flooding stores and malls this black friday but many bexwan their shopping yesterday when retailers like walmart and target opened their doors

thanksgiving day. that of course has sparked some protests from some workers. will the early hours strategy pay off for retailers? will concerns about the sluggish economy and the fiscal cliff keep consumers home? all questions we seek answers to. >> let's get some answers. cnbc contributor stacy liblet at queens center mall here in new york city. we also have liz dunn of mcquarry capital on the west coast in san francisco. great to have you all with us. laura, why don't i get to you first of all. what are you seeing out there on the floor of the malls? >> so traffic's slowing a little bit which is normal for the afternoon. i think that most of the traffic -- most of the big buys were for electronics and toys. those happened last night. they may be happening online more and more. but the mall's bit slow, we think, relative to a year ago. >> do you think people came in earlier with all of these earlier openings that we've been hearing about? do you feel maybe that's just drifted off a little bit as

everyone's now done their shopping and gone loam to bed? >> i'm pretty sure that that is what has happened here. you don't normally see -- this is an urban mall in queens. i would not judge the rest of the country by this particular mall. most of the estimates were about 2.5% growth on top of 4% last year. that looks reasonable to us and it is pretty consistent with what we're hearing in other parts of the country. >> stacy, i've heard some retailers say people aren't come doing black friday like they used to. they've started shopping even earlier. they go online. are these door busters deals even working right now? what do you make of the extended hours? has it worked? >> i think it really has in many cases. for example, walmart started at 8:00 and the most important thing is they guarantee in stock on must-have items for an hour. that's a big deal. you look at best buy, there was a 40-inch tv for under $200.

that's a big deal. it stirred up a lot of traffic. but the problem is there were a lot of disappointed customers that waited in line because quantities are limit limited. but in general you're just seeing sales pulled forward, not creating incremental sales. >> we have the pulse check on who's out there and who is not. who are winners and losers going to be from this black friday? >> three companies i really like to highlight today. i think macy's was a huge winner. they decided to open at midnight and really drove a lot of business around that decision. they were focused on the millennial customer and really targeted offers to that younger customer. other company i'd like to highlight -- abercrombie & fitch. multiple checks here are saying lines out the door and a little bit less promotion than last year. finally, jcpenney. they decided to participate in black friday. this is a little bit of a departure from their strategy of every day prices. i definitely saw traffic there

today. it will be interesting to see if they can sustain that through the holiday period as they move back to every day prices. >> what is ron johnson's strategy? i mean what -- that stock has just tanked this year. in some ways are you being a contrarian to buy that right now? >> you know, i'm kind of betting on the longer term. i think in terms of holiday, the fourth quarter's going to be really challenging for them and i don't think they're saying anything different than that. i think that's going to be a challenge. but today with the black friday promotions that they held, it did seem like they generated some incremental traffic so it will be interesting to see if they take those learnings into the longer term strategy. >> do you feel, stacy, that the experience at jcp -- let's call it an experiment perhaps with the every day low pricing -- kind of proves that the american consumer still wants coupons? >> give me coupons. >> they want their coupons. they do. they want their freebies. just look at lines at the stores like best buy and walmart that are starting the earliest and are the most promotional and then you look at numbers at

jcpenney when they took those promotions away, numbers went downhill. i'm hearing a little bit different story than liz, i'm a little more cautious here on jcpenney. i'm hearing that the traffic is not so great at the openings for jcpenney. those pins they're giving them away so get out there and get them, you might win a freebie. >> laura, i'm going to ask you the question i posed earlier. did the extended hours experiment work? is it a good idea to open on thanksgiving night and give shoppers that much more time to shop? does it a add incrementally to sales or just rob from other hours? >> we think that no matter when stores open, thanksgiving day, before thanksgiving, we think customers normally have a budget. they use that budget. but you don't want to be the one that is not open so we think it is a good thing to be open early, particularly if your competitor is closed. >> another thing i'm hearing, laura, is that people are essentially putting the same deals that you would get in a brick and mortar store out on

the same day online. right? on their websites as well. are they cannibalizing each other then? >> they're absolutely cannibalizing each other. but i think that the goal is to capture sales what no matter what channel you get it from. our favorite idea this holiday season is williams-sonoma because they're truly multi-channel. they do most of their profits online. i think it is important as you look for stocks for the holidays to focus on companies that are very strong online. >> all right. ladies, thank you all for your insights. we'll let you get back to your channel checks -- >> wait. i thought stacy had a black friday souvenir for me? >> i do. >> i didn't hear about this. >> i picked up something special for mandy. i survived black friday. so i'll send it home with the producer. zblichl's >> i'm going to look so good in that. i'm sure management will be thrilled. >> i dare you to wear that next to sullivan next week. >> thank you for the thought, sta stacy. expensive watches, fancy cars, fur coats, our wealth editor robert frank is coming up

on whether or not the super rich will lead the way this holiday shopping season. also, you splay noticed the prices at the pump have been dropping lately. yes. wait until you hear how low someone here says they could go next year. in the meantime, let's look at some black friday shoppers. that's what they're doing out there. they're walking around. hopefully spending some money. this is the biggest mall in the united states, the mall of america in minnesota. back in 2:00. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the mercedes-benz winter event is back, with the perfect vehicle that's just right for you, no matter which list you're on. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho, ho! [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 c250 for $349 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

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♪ ♪ santa claus was here today. i mean the rally continued on wall street capping off a very strong week. energy trading has wrapped up now after a nice rally in oil as well. jackie deangelis has the nymex details on that. >> we're watching oil today as fresh concerns out of the middle east sent those prices a little bit higher. we're talking about specifically violence in egypt. after a decree by egyptian president mohamed morsi that put his decisions above legal challenge. protesters accusing him of a coup. all eyes of course on egypt, as

well as israel and gaza where the cease-fire is still in place. oil prices also saw additional port on the news out of europe, optimism over greece today. west texas intermediate closing above $88 a barrel, up 1% in this short rned session. brent risie ining as well but slightly less than that. nonetheless, energy prices apparently are about to get lower. our next guest is talking 70s on crude for next year. john, why are you so bearish on oil for next year? >> a couple of things. global economy doesn't look all that great for next year particularly in europe. they have a lot to get together, the greece situation. we're also now -- >> it's going to get worse than it is this year. >> yeah. iea, opec itself all looking for demand declines next year in terms of growth. also, two things that bedevilled the brent market this year, troubles out of the north sea,

constantly having problems with production. once that comes back online for any length of time, lower prices. similarly, i know all the debate is around the keystone pipeline -- there is a lot of work being done as we speak to get oil from west texas to the u.s. gulf and from cushing, oklahoma and the mid continent -- >> so we're awash in oil. >> but it is landlocked as well. when those pipelines come on in the first, second quarter we could see a real drop in gulf coast prices. >> opec couldn't do anything -- saudi arabia is the swing producer in the world. they couldn't reduce production enough to offset that glut of oil? >> i don't see them going that way, bill. there's plenty of demand still out in asia, out in china. not to mention the saudis are in the process of finishing up a huge refinery themselves that's in the gulf coast that they're going to send their oil to that they want to process and then sell the refined product on the open market. so this is going to be an interesting setup here for how

low crude oil can go. >> i have to ask, gaza strip wild card. cease-fire holding for now but protests breaking out in egypt. what happens on that front and will it take any oil out of the market? >> we absolutely always have to watch the geopolitical story. this is a very unfortunate development here with president morsi's move. and of course, iran's on the clock with israel come probably mid year so that that will certainly be somewhat supportive of prices. the fundamentals of supply i think will overwhelm, for a time. >> regale us before we go. how much lower could gasoline prices go, do you think? >> they're already around $3.50 national average. you could be seeing sub-3 gallon gasoline next year. >> we could only hope. >> how great would that be from an economy benefitting from the rebound in the housing sector and everything else. >> we hope you are right. thank you very much, john. did you get your black friday on yet? she's itching to get out there today. we'll show you where the hottest shopping action on the other side of the break.

plus find out whether walmart worker protests have been keeping shoppers away. later on, your mobile device could be your best ticket to huge time money and savings. we'll show you the apps you need to know about to achieve that. don't go away. time to "toast today's close" with this -- want to skip today's crazy black friday shopping lines? try using your phone. according to the interactive advertising bureau, more than 80% of smartphone owners have accessed retailer sites or apps. so which cities are the most savvy when it comes to mobile shopping? find out next.

a toast to today's market close. here are the top five mobile shopping savvy cities. new york, l.a., san francisco, seattle, and topping the list for the second year in a row -- houston. who knew? >> who knew? now we know. news you can use. well, the holiday shopping season kicking off with a bang as millions of americans shop until they drop this black friday. >> we have full team coverage of the shopping event. courtney reagan at a mall in ohio, jane wells at a best buy in california, hampton pearson at a walmart with -- following

the walkout protests in maryland, and we also have robert frank looking at whether millionaires are participating in the black friday rush. let's start with courtney. you've been at this mall all day. first of all, have you bought anything? >> reporter: i have been at the mall all day. i have only bought food so far but my credit cards are itching to be used a little bit later when we have a bit of a break. foot traffic here has actually increased throughout the day. we're hearing from retailers, analysts, shoppers alike that in general those thanksgiving early hours did indeed drive traffic. some shoppers here have been shopping all night long. >> it's just crazy. if you like craziness. it's a good place to be. >> we started -- >> too early. thursday night. normally we do about 3:00, 4:00 in the morning. >> i went at 7:00 to walmart an got out by 8:45. went home, finished some

homework. and then i just came out again at 2:45. >> jpmorgan's matt boston is scouting multiple locations throughout the company. they said they were nice lines but fewer than what they saw last year. he also thinks macy's is the clear winner. from a mall in long island, they say traffic early stronger than last year. citi says target's electronics door buster deals did drive generally strong traffic. deutsche bank says crowds at walmart and target have been strong. while black friday will likely be a success for retailers, he doesn't believe it will be a game changer. customer growth partners craig johnson says generators at home depot and lowe's on the east coast sold out within 20 minutes. a bit of a different door buster type of deal. however, not entirely surprising with what we've just gone through with sandy and the upcoming winter. home depot shares trading at

12-year highs. lowe's at 5-year highs. google says when it comes to shopping related searches, jcpenney christmas is coming in number one, followed by walmart black friday card and home depro black friday hours. interesting data points coming in from all around the country, online, in store, you name it, we've got it for you. >> very good. courtney reagan, back home in the heartland. say hi to your family for me there. could this end up being a make or break holiday shopping season for best buy? jane wells is at one in california with details on that. jane? >> reporter: hey, bill. the manager here at this best buy won't give us specific numbers but he says sales so far after 10 1/2 hours are "on track." part of best buy's restructuring is something called the renew blue initiative which citigroup says they're trying to emphasize customer experience, improve it in the stores, something they've struggled with. they've reilly tried to pump up

employees today. here's you, brandon. how has the experience been so far? >> pretty good. >> what did you buy? >> assassin's create 3. >> your mother lets you play that? >> yeah. >> we'll talk later. but the employees have been staying chipper and good-natured. i don't know how they're doing it because you can tell i'm getting a little punchy. i'm about ready to rip somebody's head off. but the big deal other than this smooth transition, there was one bottleneck earlier. around 4:00 a.m. everybody had had gotten in but the line to get to the cash register was taking over two hours. ininterviewed on live tv one said who said he'd flown here from india and his wait at that point was over two hours. listen. what are you buying? >> i'm buying a dslr camera. >> you came from india to buy this? is. >> yes. yes, i did. >> really? because they have a thing called the internet. >> this is not the experience i was expecting. >> reporter: well, it all worked

out. i snapped this photo maybe about a half-hour later as he gave a thumb's up getting close finally to the cash register. by 5:30 a.m., guys, the lines were much more flowing smoothly, much more back to normal. back to you. >> you are definitely getting punchy. >> the punchy jane wells. >> go easy on that young man. he seemed like a very nice young man. >> i know. poor brandon. his poor mother. >> just go and have another starbucks number 100. thank you, jane. >> half caf. protests by workers at walmarts across the country are not overshadowing what walmart says is shaping up to be a very good start to the holiday shopping season for the world's largest retailer. hampton pearson is at a walmart in maryland with more. from what we were talking about last time, what are we seeing now, hampton? >> reporter: well, it's calmed down but earlier we did have a very well orchestrated and well organized protest here. maybe a couple hundred demonstrators backing a national

campaign, if you will, on behalf of major labor unions and community organizers to, they say, get better pay and benefits for walmart's 1.4 million employees. they say they're simply supporting the groundswell that's building inside walmart among employees who are speaking out more and more. some in cases walking off their jobs briefly today. one long-time employee who did walk off her job to participate today's demonstration told us the threat of retaliation by her bosses, she feels, is very real. >> we will not be silent and we are tired of them intimidating workers. we have anti-union meetings that they put us in a room. you think you're going in there for benefits. they shut the door, paper up the windows and then tell you an anti-union spiel. >> reporter: walmart saying statements like that are greatly exaggerated and, frankly, the size and magnitude of the

protests promised by folks on the other side, also grossly exaggerated. in an updated statement, they say the bottom line is they're on their way to one of their best black fridays ever as far as their customers. back to you. is there hampton, thank you for that. we should probably mention as well, this is obviously purely anecdotal but one of our >> our producer who is there says he hasn't seen any of those protesters in walmart employee gash which obviously feeds back to what we were discussing earlier that amongst those protesting from walmart themselves, there are a number of people from the community, perhaps even those tho have been bussed in. >> it clearly has not disrupted shopping. that goes on, that's for sure. millions of americans are hunting for bargains this black friday but are the nation's millionaires among them? wealth editor robert frank has that part of the story for us right now. robert? >> thanks, bill. turns out millionaires will not be joining jane wells on those best buy lines this morning or today. 83% of millionaires will not be doing any holiday shopping

today. that's higher than other income groups. it's not so surprising, millionaires don't get quite as excited over saving $2 on a dvd. but what is surprising is that millionaires aren't spending much at all this year for gifts. more than three-quarters of them plan to spend the same as they did last year according to a survey from spectrum group. only 14% plan to spend more and 10% plan to spend less. most millionaires plan to spend $1,000 or less this season. reason? a lot of it is the fiscal cliff and the fears taxes are about to go up. any tax hikes are expected to hit the highest earners the hardest. it is unclear whether this is all bad news for luxury retailers like sachs, nordstrom's and tiffany's. with more of the wealthy thinking about uncle sam this christmas, rather than santa, we'll be watching these luxury companies very cautiously.

>> a different bearded gentleman that they're thinking about. >> exactly. that's right. >> thank you, robert. let your fingers do the saving. coming up next, we'll tell you about half-a-dozen apps that could put some extra bucks in your wallet this holiday and beyond. >> i'm doing apps now. oh, dear. later, how about doing holiday shopping at a mom and pop store tomorrow. we'll talk about the american express executive behind this saturday's small business movement in a few minutes. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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if you if you didn't sleep in front of a store last night, our next guest says all you need to score some of the best holiday deals this season is a must-have app for your smartphone right now. >> indeed. here to take us through, the founder of help sl dafbsave my dollars.com. >> they are great for comparing prices of items in the store. the first one we have is snaptell. you go up to any item in the store, scan the bar code and it will find the retailer that sells the item for the lowest price. this one was a dvd. you can see that overstock sells it for less than $8. but if i'm in the store and they sell it for $10, go up to the manager and say, can you match the price. >> that's snaptell. >> giftmeister is another great

one. suggests gifts for you. say you want to buy a gift for your friend, 18 to 30 in age. you want to spend $100 to $200. press go, view recommendations and it will show you various electronic suggestions. >> i like that. >> ereaders and computers and you can even search for digital cameras. it will actually refer you to the retailer. >> all of these are free but one. even that is only 99 cents. >> that was gift meister. gift meister. >> a number three. >> the one that's 99 cents is called santa's bag. this one you can actually track who you're spending money for on all of your shopping -- >> bill, mandy, maria. you can actually take a picture of the receipt and track how much you spend for each person. zblic >> i'm the only one that so far has got a gift. >> don't tell mandy what i'm getting her this year. >> number four? >> santa's bag. >> we have this one which is

also free. it gives you walking directions in the mall. >> for those of you who don't live in the new jersey area, you need that for the garden state plaza. i get lost in that place every single time. >> it gives you walking directions. other nice thing is, say you tend to forget where you parked your car. it has a voice note feature where you can record where you parked your car and play back the recording at the end when you are looking for your car. it's called fast mall. >> five, shom kick. >> this is free. basically you can walk in to a target, macy's or best buy and earn rewards points just by walking in. if you make a purchase, you'll earn even more points. you can then redeem these points for various freebies like a starbucks gift card, target gift card, itunes song download. >> are more and more people using apps like this? >> national retail federation reporting one-third of consumers are using those apps to compare prices and research items in the

store. >> scott, great stuff. thanks. >> let your fingers do the buying. shop small, spend big. small business saturday has taken on a whole life of its own since american express kicked it off two years ago. >> consumers supporting main street retailers at this crucial time of the year is coming up next. before we hit the break though, check out this year's white house christmas tree. washington. there you go. white house christmas tree 2012 being shipped in. back in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] 'tis the season to discover the kid in all of us. the memories that last, start with the gifts that last. ♪ enjoy free shipping and great values on your holiday shopping from l.l.bean.

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it is black friday it is black friday today, folks. small business saturday is tomorrow. last year, 103 million people shopped and shopped small. this year, however, spending trends are already looking different. >> american express is reporting that black friday shoppers are expected to spend less than they did last year but it may be because 43% of consumers have already put cash to work. they started well before black friday. they were shopping even before halloween. this was what i was talking about before, that people are not just waiting until black friday. joining us to talk about it, american express ed gilligan

joining us to size up the spending. ed, welcome back. first of all, on this consumption trend right now, people are starting earlier. i guess because they -- what? they're looking for bargains even before they start black friday. right? >> that's right, bill. thank you for having me again on the show. i appreciate it. >> welcome back. >> i think what's happening is just a lot of uncertainty in the economy, as we all know. retailers started extending their promotional period. as you mentioned, our research says that some people have been holiday shopping since halloween or even earlier. we do see that 45% of people we surveyed say they are going to shop today on black friday. and that's great. but they're planning to spend a little bit less today than they did last year. but for the holiday season, they're planning to spend a little bit more than all of last year. that's a good sign. even better, our research says that almost two-thirds of americans are going to go shopping tomorrow on small business saturday. we're really excited about that. >> i bet you are. with regards to black friday, i have the stats here. you note that the average black

friday shopper will spend $398. that's about 25% less than last year. so is black friday just becoming meaningless? >> no. it's certainly not meaningless but i think retailers will be less dependent on one-day sales. that's probably a good thing. but because of a little bit of the anxiety, they're extending their promotional period and that's good for consumers. >> let's talk about this small business saturday. we are starting to brand each of the days following thanksgiving. we'll extend it out to christmas. idea is to get people to buy from local businesses. you don't have to go to the big box retailers but support your local businesses out there during the holiday season. right? >> that's right, bill. small businesses are so important to the vitalness of the american economy. they employ almost half the private workforce and if you look at the last 20 years, small businesses have created almost two-thirds of the new jobs in the country. >> they create jobs, but am i going to get a deal there for such price sensitive consumers out there who are looking for a

bargain every single time they buy something, can a small business, a small retailer, provide that kind of a deal? >> we think they absolutely can and do compete. they're competing every day against big box retailers and everyone else who's in the market trying to do business on the holiday period. small businesses are unique. they're creative to entrepreneurs. they certainly do sales, promotions, coupons, they do gift with purchase. they put together a whole package to be competitive, of course, but they also provide local service. they provide strong value to the communities they operate in. we all know that how important main street is to the vitality of local communities. they do all of the above and they certainly do know how to compete. what they don't have is ways to make their voice heard against all the promotions around black friday. small business saturday is really their day to get the word out for americans to shop small p pfer to support the mom and pop retailers,

stores, than the big box retailers. >> that's right. so get out there tomorrow for that. >> thank you for getting the word out. >> ed gilligan of american express. before we go, the markets closed early because of the holiday and it was a very good day for the bulls. rallying 172 points on the dow. the nadz was up 40. the s&p 500 up 18 points. each of them up about 1.33% totoday. we're essentially back to levels we saw before the election. >> that's absolutely right. indeed we did close at the highs of the day. you felt the momentum the last ten min o